Keota boys stay alive

Feb 26, 2014

Photo by: Journal file photoLuke Lyle

BROOKLYN – The eighth-ranked in Class 1A Keota High School boys’ varsity basketball team won a district semifinal game on Tuesday, Feb. 25 on a neutral court against the Montezuma Braves, 48 – 33.The Eagles got off to an 8-0 start and led 16 – 7 by the end of the first quarter.“We got off to that lead within the first five minutes using our defensive effort and never looked back, really. We had tremendous energy on defense all night long,” Keota head coach Dan Stout said.Both teams struggled offensively in the second quarter, however,combining for only 17 points. “We had too many turnovers. We had some ill-advised passes, some careless dribbles. They changed things up a bit on us with a triangle-and-two on [senior] Kolton [Greiner] then went back into the 2-3 zone. Obviously it kills scoring chances when you turn the ball over,” Stout explained.At halftime Keota led 24 – 16. The Eagles continued their stifling defensive effort in the third and fourth quarters, limiting the Braves to just 17 points over the last 16 minutes of the game. Montezuma never scored in double digits in any quarter of the game.Keota was led in scoring by senior Luke Lyle with his 15 points. Junior Nate Owen added 11 points. Senior Derek Berg contributed nine points. Greiner got six points in the game. Sophomore Isaiah Hahan put five points towards the total. Senior Justin Hultman completed the scoring with two points.Lyle also led the team in rebounds with 16 and steals with four. Greiner had four assists. Keota improves to 22 – 1 on the season. The Eagles will face BGM on Thursday, Feb. 27 at Mid-Prairie High School for the District 9 championship. “We’re going to work on taking care of the ball and shooting. We’ll go over our sets again because BGM runs a similar 2-3 zone. Other than that we’ll get as much rest as we can. Fortunately BGM was running up and down the court with Meskwaki, so they’re just as tired as we are. You can’t use that as an excuse at tournament time, however. Everyone is tired after a long season. We’ll be ready for tomorrow night,” Stout commented.The winner of the BGM/Keota game will go on to face the District 10 champion (either No. 9 Pekin or Van Buren) on Saturday, March 1 at Iowa City West for a spot in the Class 1A state tournament.